Arnold Steinhardt

Violinist Arnold Steinhardt was the first violinist and a founding member of the Guarneri String Quartet, which retired in 2009 after 45 years before the public. He began studying violin in his native Los Angeles with Peter Meremblum and Toscha Seidel; he then studied with Ivan Galamian at the Curtis Institute of Music, and later, under the sponsorship of George Szell, studied with Josef Szigeti in Switzerland. Bronze medalist of the Queen Elisabeth Competition, he won the Leventritt Competition in 1958. Having debuted with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at age 14, he subsequently appeared with major orchestras and in recital. His recordings include Franz Schubert's complete works for violin and piano with Seymour Lipkin on Newport Classic, American Journey with his brother Victor Steinhardt on Naxos featuring a variety of little known works, two CDs on Sheffield Lab with pianist Lincoln Mayorga, Strauss and Dvorák and Romantic Music, which he recorded "direct-to-disc", and a Town Hall recording of unaccompanied Bach works. He teaches violin and chamber music at the Colburn School Conservatory of Music, the University of Maryland, and Bard College. His violin was made in the late 18th century by Lorenzo Storioni in Cremona. He writes stories about music in his monthly blog entitled In the Key of Strawberry and has written two books: his memoir,Indivisible by Four: A String Quartet in Pursuit of Harmony, and Violin Dreams.